International Piano is a unique bi-monthly publication written for and loved by pianists and discerning fans of piano music all over the world.

Each bi-monthly issue includes interviews with top pianists and rising talent, performance tips, news, features, analysis and comment. You will find exclusive tutorials by concert artists, in-depth articles on piano recordings and repertoire, masterclasses on piano technique, and festival, concert and competition reports from around the globe.

Every edition includes a five-page Symposium, hosted by Jeremy Siepmann, which brings together leading experts and international pianists for a round-table debate.

Summer School Round-up

REVIEW: Benjamin Grosvenor at Wigmore Hall, London

The Wigmore Hall’s acoustic sometimes constricts pianists
with 3000-seater tones – but it shows off Benjamin Grosvenor’s infinitely
nuanced sound at its luminous best. Here the 21-year-old British star proved
beyond a doubt the pure-gold quality of his sonic imagination and his ability
to realise it. He can transport his listeners to new dimensions in a way that
this reviewer can compare only to a young Krystian Zimerman – palpable in his
sublimely controlled Schubert G flat Impromptu, or Mompou’s sensuous Paisajes,
where the voicing reached extraordinary levels of mastery.

Schumann’s Humoresque was a bold choice: a baffling work
that is too rarely performed. Grosvenor rose to all its challenges. Though
notorious for ‘not hanging together’, it cohered brilliantly; he created rapt
atmospheres, kept busy textures airy, yet defined the character of each
episode, his clarity of touch illuminating the intricate contrapuntal writing.

Medtner’s Two Fairytales needed extra earthiness, but never
lacked charm; and after a shimmering account of Ravel’s Valses nobles et
sentimentales, Liszt’s Paraphrase on the Waltz from Gounod’s Faust found
Grosvenor swashbuckling with the finest virtuosi, delivering enough schwung to
floor every Fledermaus in town. Mendelssohn’s Andante and Rondo Capriccioso was
an engaging opener, risking all at quicksilver tempo; the Albeniz/Godowsky
Tango made a tasty encore. Once Grosvenor also controls the silences at his
conclusions, he’ll get the standing ovations he deserves.